Wordpress Tutorials

What is WordPress? A simple tutorial

What is WordPress? WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. It just may be the easiest and most flexible blogging and website content management system (CMS) for beginners.

This 5-minute video provides a quick introduction to WordPress and demonstrates why it is the most popular web publishing platform today.

Covered in this video:

What is WordPress?

Brief history of WordPress.

Why it’s much more than a blogging tool.

The power of “Open Source.”

How WordPress works.

Six reasons to choose WordPress.

What is WordPress?

In non-geek speak, WordPress is web publishing software you can use to create your own website or blog. Since it was released in 2003, WordPress has become one of the most popular web publishing platforms. Today it powers nearly 30 percent of the entire web — from hobby blogs to some of the biggest news sites online.

But many people don’t realize that WordPress is much more just a blogging tool. It’s actually a highly flexible content management system (CMS) that enables you to build and manage your own website using just your web browser. Best of all, it’s completely FREE.

That’s because WordPress is an Open Source project. That means that hundreds of volunteers from all around the world are constantly creating and improving the code for the WordPress software. And, there are thousands of plugins, widgets, and themes that enable you to build just about any type of website you can imagine.

So, how does WordPress work?

Since the earliest days of the Internet, websites have been created in programming languages like HTML, PHP, and CSS to format text, create page layouts, display images, and so on.

Your web browser then reads this code, interpreting those tags to render and display the content of a particular web page.

But today, you can install the WordPress software on your own web server in about 5 minutes. Once installed, you’ll log into your site using your favorite web browser, and then use a simple editor to create web pages — without having to learn how to code. There are even hosting companies like WordPress.com and others who install WordPress for you, and enable you to start building your website with just a few clicks.

There are several reasons WordPress is a great choice for building your blog or business website.

First of all, WordPress is Open Source. That means that there are thousands of people all around the world who are constantly working to improve WordPress. And because WordPress is an open source project it’s also completely FREE.

Second, it’s incredibly flexible and extensible. There are thousands of plugins and themes that enable you to easily change the entire look of your website, or even add new features like a mailing list, photo gallery, or an online store.

Third, it’s easy to use and learn. You don’t need to hire a web designer every time you want to make a small change to your website. Instead, you can easily update and create your own content — without having to learn how to code. In fact, if you know how to use the basic formatting tools in a program like Microsoft Word, you can edit your site.

Next, if you run into problems, or you want to add custom features, it’s easy to find support or hire someone to help you. In addition to the WordPress tutorials on this site, there are also thousands of WordPress developers and designers who can help you. The official WordPress Forum is a great place to get answers to your questions.

WordPress is also SEO-friendly. Right out of the box, WordPress includes everything you need to ensure that your content is optimized for search engines. This is critical to your site’s visibility and online success. Matt Cutts of Google says, “WordPress is made to do SEO well.”

Last, you’re in control of your own content. Other publishing platforms limit what you can and can’t do on your own website. And, you’re locked in to that service. If it should ever shut down, your content could simply disappear. With WordPress, you can import your content from other systems like Blogger or Tumblr. And you can also easily export your data to move away from WordPress, should you choose. You’re in control of your site… and your content.

Is WordPress right for you?

If you’re looking for an easy tool that will help you to build your own website or blog without having to learn how to code, you’ll love WordPress. And, you’ll find that WordPress is incredibly flexible, with thousands of themes, plugins, and support options to ensure that your site will continue to grow with you in the future.